07 May 2009

Hundreds of thousands of DNA profiles of innocent people are to be kept on the national DNA database for up to 12 years despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling that the "blanket and indiscriminate" retention of suspects' DNA is unlawful.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said:

“This well-spun proposal proves that the Home Secretary has yet to learn about the presumption of innocence and value of personal privacy in Britain. Wholly innocent people – including children will have their most intimate details stockpiled for years on a database that will remain massively out of step with the rest of the world. With regret we shall be forced to see her in court once more.”